Human Resources Committee on Oct. 18th, 2012

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Actually, at the launch of the bill we had tremendous feedback from a number of sources. As mentioned in my speaking notes, Dan Demers from the Canadian Cancer Society, applauded us, saying that not only did we keep our promise, but by the standards of the federal government we did it in record time. It was more than what they were expecting.

We were very fortunate to have people like Senator Boisvenu, who has been championing the cause for parents of murdered or missing children for a long time, as well as several of his colleagues. Sharon Ruth spoke; she is the mother of a daughter who was diagnosed suddenly with cancer at the age of six. I'm pleased to say that her daughter Colleen is now doing exceptionally well and is very active in school.

They all spoke with high praise for this program.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Both ministers can answer this next question.

I know that our focus is on job creation and long-term prosperity, but at the same time, both of you have been bringing up measures to help families, to help workers.

Why do you passionately think it is so important to help the parents of critically ill, murdered, or missing children? Why do you believe it is so important?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Parents face all sorts of challenges in raising children, but when the child is critically ill, they really need their parents with them. In fact, many hospitals encourage overnight stays by the parents. It's not just medical care they need; they need comfort and assistance, the security of knowing their parents are with them as they face all sorts of things, such as testing with these big machines that can scare children. We also know that having parental support often helps their recovery significantly because the child is more secure.

We wanted to make sure that children have that advantage, and that the parents, in providing that care, are able to do so without having to worry about true financial hardship to support them through these difficult times.

It's the same with parents of murdered or missing children. This can be so very time-consuming, apart from being terribly traumatic for them. We wanted to make sure that, again, they could focus on the needs of their families and holding the rest of their family together.

Too often these kinds of stresses rip apart a family. We wanted to make sure they have one less thing to worry about, as they deal with these terrible circumstances.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you, Mr. Shory.

Thank you, Minister.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Could Minister Raitt make a quick comment?

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

We will let Minister Raitt make her comments as well, but your time is well up.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

He is tough on you, isn't he? He's keeping you to a timeline.

I've never had the experience in my family where we've had a child go missing or a child murdered or somebody who was critically ill. I will tell you that my boys are 8 and 11, and last weekend they were playing hockey—one of them was on the ice—and my eight-year-old went into the boards kind of hard. He was down for a bit, and I was scared. You feel that emotion right away. I know that if something ever happened to one of my kids, I absolutely would have to be there because that's how I see my role. I don't see myself as any different than any other Canadian mom or dad in the country who would want to be there for their kid. It's an emotional and instant reaction.

This is the right thing to do. To not have to worry about whether you're answering e-mails from the hospital room, or you have to step out to take a conference call or to make sure a file gets moved, is going to be a load off a lot of people's minds. They should be focusing on what they need to focus on, which is their kids.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you, Minister Raitt.

We'll move to Mr. Cleary.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses, the ministers.

Minister Finley, you threw out a couple of numbers that I found just shocking in terms of the numbers of parents who would be eligible for these kinds of benefits. You mentioned as many as a thousand for murdered or missing children and as many as 6,000 for parents of critically ill children, but for me, coming from a place like Newfoundland and Labrador, that number of a thousand for murdered or missing children is just shocking. On the 6,000 for those who are critically ill, I can relate more to that, because everywhere, unfortunately, we have critically ill children.

The whole time you were speaking, I was thinking about adults with elderly parents, adults whose parents are critically ill. I know that this bill, the Helping Families in Need Act, is specifically for parents of critically ill children. When you talk about families, I also think about adults with critically ill parents.

Will there come a time when we can extend this? Or is it possible to extend this type of benefit for an adult with a critically ill parent?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

We do have a benefit called compassionate care. It's another special benefit under the employment insurance suite. That provides six weeks of leave—

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

But this is 37 weeks.

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Thirty-five.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Thirty-five?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Yes, 35, but the six weeks for compassionate care is there for just that purpose: so that family members can support a parent or a near relative. Also, what we did as the government is we expanded the eligibility for who can provide care, particularly for a senior who's critically ill. A simple example of that would be that there now are many seniors who don't live near their families but do have a close friend within their own community. That close friend could be designated to provide the emotional support for this individual while they are critically ill.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

But there's a big difference, Minister, between six weeks and 35 weeks, and the impact on a worker of a critically ill child versus a critically ill parent would be the same, wouldn't you think?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Well, there is a difference in the needs of the patient. Children, we know, are much more vulnerable emotionally. They need more support from their parents than an adult would in similar circumstances. Most adults have been through some medical care. They understand the process better. It's not as terrifying for them and—

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

I would disagree there.

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Compared to a three-year-old or a five-year-old.... The studies have shown that the children really do need to have their parents there while they're going through their treatment, their diagnosis, the testing, and all of these different things; the needs of the patient here are, from a medical perspective and an emotional perspective, generally recognized to be much more significant than they are for adults. But we recognize that the adults have needs as well, and that's why the compassionate care benefit is there.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

I have another quick question in terms of encouraging private sector companies to top up benefits: would you do that as well?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Well, that's up to the individual company—

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

No—would you encourage them to do that?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Well, they have to make their own decisions. It's the same with any kind of labour benefit. It's a very, very competitive world in the labour market these days. Many companies are choosing to offer a wide range of benefits that they feel will be attractive for attracting, recruiting, and retaining employees. I encourage them to be as innovative as they can, because they're going to need to be in the tight labour market situation that we're facing in the future.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Minister, I introduced a—

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

I'll extend your time. I think Minister Raitt wishes to make a comment.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Just to help you, in the federal jurisdiction, as you know, it's pretty heavily unionized, so I would expect that there would be collective bargaining for exactly that. The workers would bargain for a top-up, just like they bargain for top-ups of maternity and parental leave.